French supermarket chain Carrefour has removed dog meat products from two stores in China, but has failed to assure customers it won’t return.

On Tuesday, Animals Asia launched a petition beseeching French supermarket giant Carrefour to stop selling dog meat products in their China stores.

We first found dog meat in Carrefour stores back in 2012, and were promised they would be removed for good. But on a routine inspection in 2016 we discovered they were openly on display.

Our emails to the company’s headquarters in France went unanswered and a follow up check in May 2017 found nothing had changed – the company was still profiting from the dog meat industry.

After learning that Carrefour had not kept its word, tens of thousands of animal lovers around the world signed a petition and international media began asking questions. Within less than 24 hours, Carrefour responded by telling journalists the products were gone.

But how do we know they won’t come back?

As of now Carrefour has still not made a commitment to end dog meat sales forever – they still haven’t assured their customers that they will never again profit from the cruel dog meat industry.

Animals Asia’s Cat and Dog Welfare Director Irene Feng said:

“This is a huge win for the little people all over the world. Individually we were ignored by a multinational, billion-dollar brand, but together our effect was almost instant.

“And while it’s fantastic news that Carrefour has taken dog meat products off the shelves in these two stores, the company has 200 stores in China – we can’t check them all.

“Carrefour does not have a good track record when it comes to keeping its promises on dog meat. Their customers deserve a guarantee from Carrefour that it will adopt a 'no dog meat policy', and a commitment that it will never again support the cruel and corrupt dog meat industry.

“Since the latest findings of dog meat in their stores, we are yet to receive any correspondence from Carrefour. We were able to independently verify their claim that the dog meat products had been removed from the two stores in Xuzhou city, but we can’t be everywhere all the time.

“We’ll keep pushing for a guarantee from Carrefour that they have finally ended their relationship with the cruel and often illegal dog meat industry and it is very likely that to get this assurance, we will once again need the support of the global community.”

An estimated 10 million dogs are slaughtered annually in China for the meat industry. Yet despite these huge numbers, a long-running Animals Asia investigation could find no evidence of any large scale breeding facilities anywhere in the country.

The findings give weight to the widely held belief that most dogs which end up on the dinner plate are in fact stolen companion animals and strays snatched from the streets.

Animals Asia’s reports detailed evidence of illegality at every stage of the dog meat supply chain with many dogs poisoned and with no proof of origin or vaccination histories as required by law. 

Working year round work to the end the dog meat industry

Animals Asia works every day of the year to end the dog meat industry in China through Ya Dong, a consulting agency wholly owned and advised by Animals Asia.

● Animals Asia - through Ya Dong - funds and supports local grassroots groups fighting the dog and cat meat trade on the ground in China 

● Runs public awareness and behaviour change campaigns

● Conducts undercover investigations of restaurants, live animal markets and slaughterhouses 
● Advises government departments on humane treatment of strays and companion animals
● Puts pressure on authorities to strengthen enforcement

● Funds spay and neuter programs
● Coordinates community outreach to show people that dogs and cats are friends… not food.

So far in 2017, our continued reporting of dog meat restaurants to the authorities has seen 126 dog meat restaurants either forced to stop selling dog meat or shut down completely.

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